Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but organized too literally
Review: My verdict: over-researched and under-written. It's a cascade of interesting facts, but time and time again the author seems to come to the brink of a good story only to turn away and wander off somewhere else. I wouldn't really mind the overwrought way the book's organized, except that the author doesn't quite pull it off--doesn't demonstrate the necessity for doing it the way he does, to my mind. Instead of telling the whole story of one event at once and then moving on to another, some of the facts about an event crop up in one chapter, other aspects of the same story appear later, then another aspect of it shows up even later than that. The effect is that the writing keeps circling around like a sea-bird with no place to land. There's no real suspense or sense of discovery or narrative power to the recountings of events, and it robs the writing of vividness; few of the places and people really came alive in my mind. The effect on me was that the writing seemed overly academic--or perhaps I should say offhand and dry rather than academic--and it made the book read slowly for me, even though I'm normally a stone sucker for tales of the sea and am well used to reading nonfiction. Even the death of Blackbeard, which is inherently dramatic, is rendered nearly flavorless, but for the dying pirate's dashing last line. And the chapter on Captain Kidd, incredibly, peters out suddenly right before it ends. The author turns to a thorough digression, as if he had completely lost interest in the story just as it was reaching its climax. Later, you learn that the author has reserved the subject of executions for the book's last chapter, and Kidd's is duly covered, finally, but by then I was getting rather grumpy about it. Although this example is the worst one, constant narrative interruptions like it fragment the book. On the other hand, the research is very good, and I learned a great deal. I'm not sorry I read this. I just think I would have liked it a lot better if the writing were more integrated and better paced.
Rating: 
Summary: A Reasoned Survey of Pirating in the 17th/18th Centuries
Review: Under the Black Flag is a history of Pirates during the era when they entered the popular imagination. For Europe and America this is from 1650 or so until government action essentially eliminated them in the mid 18th Century. Additionally, the book outlines activities of some of the more successful Asian pirates; not often see in a "Western" work. While historians normally pursue "truth", the sometimes unpleasant reality is that History is basically perception. The enduring image of pirates in the public: Long John Silver/"Aargh matey" etc, etc, is also a part of their history, and the author takes this seriously in his work. The notables are here Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, Captain Morgan, Captain Kidd, Annie Bonney, and Mary Read. But there are also some lesser known (and much more successful paradoxically) characters including some excellent coverage of piratical operations in and around China. The book is not just a collection of bios, but has chapters concerning the social and economic realities of going "a pyrating". Unlike some earlier works on piracy that have a revisionist axe to grind, this author confronts "issues" straight on without fanfare: Homosexuality? In an era where "sodomy" was a death sentence there is no evidence of greater homosexual activity than in the population at large. Prototypical feminist pirates? There were some female sailors and pirates sure, but their careers were frankly not overly successful-no better or worse than many others. Captain Kidd's buried treasure? Well pirates were after ANYTHING they could get, molasses, timber, slaves, supplies. X marks the spot is pure legend generated by legions of authors and films. For anyone interested in this subject, "Under the Black Flag" is a great resource. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A fine introduction into the realities of piracy
Review: Cordingly has written a good introduction to the world of piracy. He effectively describes the reality of the harsh, cruel and often short-lives of the many pirates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This book is a fairly quick read and is recommended to anyone looking for an introduction into the world of pirates or the Age of Sail in general.
Rating:
Summary: Did You Know Pirates Were Democratic Before Our Colonies?
Review: David Cordingly is an expert on maritime history, having been on the staff of the Museum of Maritime History in England. Prior to reading this book, I had been unaware that pirate ships were democratic! Yep, pirates voted for their captains and where to sail, what ships to plunder, and what ports to drop anchor at. Nope, pirates were not at all like the movie and TV pirates we have all been exposed to. In fact, most Pirates of the Caribbean didn't torture, maim, and kill; they were pretty nice guys and GALS except that they robbed ships! Bartholomew Roberts, for instance, captured the most ships and he drank nothing more toxic than tea. And the infamous "Black Bart" was religious, allowing his men to hold services and pray aboard his ships. Often the pirates' prey didn't care about being plundered because the owners of the ships had insured their cargos. If you're interested in finding out more facts about pirates read any of the books David Cordingly has written and edited. There are many more out there for adults and children. A children's novel about piracy that I recommend is K.J. McWilliams' The Diary of a Slave Girl, Ruby Jo.
Rating:
Summary: A sweeping glance
Review: The author does a wonderful job at taking a sweeping glance at the pirates and privateers of the Americas--especially of the Caribbean. The premise of the book seems to be trying to show how the fanciful and romantic view of pirates isn't based in reality. He does seem to try to fit in how this romantic view could "possibly" be true in a very few characters, but it doesn't hold up to pirates in general--they were some terrible and cruel people. Taking in what I said about the premise I can't imagine anyone really believing in the romantic view of the pirates. The only romance in pirates is what we wish for in our hearts--the freedom of mundane routines, traveling the world, exotic locales, etc. The author touches upon this excuse for the romantic image, but not in depth. I have to agree with other reviewers and say that the author does do a lot of repetition. He seems to jump around covering the same individuals and sordid facts. I can understand that this work isn't supposed to be as entertaining as a good ol' high seas adventure novel and I don't romanticize these brutal characters, but they had to be more dynamic than the dry account he paints. Pirates seem much more than just a two dimensional character--they were much more complex. Aside from a very brief mention of the vast numbers of pirates in the South China seas (50,000 in and around 1809!) he makes pirates out to be a limited thing. This book is more of a scholarly work geared for a mass audience. The author has done his homework and presents facts and sources generously throughout. This book is a general overview, and introduction to pirates. This book isn't geared for entertainment, rather for a good solid background of the known facts of the subject. The author does shine through in some accounts as with the killing of Blackbeard, but I felt myself skipping lines and such to just get through it. It is worth a read if you are interested in a general overview of pirates, but if you're looking to quench a thirst for adventure and other such romantic views this book isn't for you. I am giving this book 4 stars because of its vast scope and great documentation.
Rating:
Summary: Aaargh, shiver me timbers, matey!
Review: UNDER THE BLACK FLAG is the perfect read for anyone who, as a kid, dressed up as a one-eyed pirate and went around waving a cardboard cutlass saying, "Aaargh, speak up bilge rat; where be the treasure?" Or anyone who enters company staff meetings with, "Ahoy tharr, scurvy dogs, shark meat ya'll be." Or, "Are ya feeling lucky, punk?" (Well, perhaps that last is from a more recent era.) Since he's writing for Western audiences, Author David Cordingly focuses on the pirates, buccaneers, and corsairs of European background, who infested the waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans and the Caribbean during the 17th and 18th centuries. The book's twelve chapters reveal everything you've ever wanted to know about swashbuckling pirates and piracy: the ships, pirate flags, buried treasure, recruitment, plunderings, pirate violence, famous captains (e.g. Kidd, Blackbeard, Morgan, Rackam, Vane, Roberts), women pirates, pirates' women, pirate life on land and sea, marooning, walking the plank, pirate islands and haunts, pirates in the media (books, stage plays, films), pirate trials and executions, wooden legs and, yes, parrots. Upon finishing UNDER THE BLACK FLAG, I tried to think of a reason not to award five stars, and couldn't. The volume is extensively researched, well organized, written with the popular audience in mind, eminently instructive, and not without humor. Sixteen pages of photographs complement the text. If you're interested in the topic, I can't recommend it too highly. Aaargh! By the way, what does "shiver me timbers" mean, anyway?
Rating: 
Summary: Avoid these shores...
Review: I agree with the previous pans of this book. Ridiculously repetitive, poorly organized, largely dependent on secondary sources, Under the Black Flag has little to recommend it. Cordingly takes an inherently interesting subject- the reality of the Caribbean pirates- and finds a way to make it boring. Furthermore, the ponderous writing style and endless digressions on the image of the pirate in literature, the stage or screen soon overshadow the few good stories the book contains. There have to be better books out there on pirates.
Rating:
Summary: Agree with "ol' Sterny" on this one
Review: Have to agree with Stern's comments about the sloppy nature and confused mission of this book, although my gripe is more with regard to the fundamental flow of this book. This thing runs you back and forth and all over the place, visiting and revisiting subjects and characters to the point where the Cordingly's attention deficit disorder becomes incredibly annoying. Once again, I agree with Stern's review: the book is well worth reading, but only as a compilation of miscellaneous facts about famous names and events. A fun thing to do if you're going to the beach for the weekend, or if you plan to attend your wife's high school reunion and you fear you'll have nothing to talk about.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed and overrated, but still worth reading
Review: In our culture, we have a mixed perception of pirates. Were the pirates romantic, glamorous swashbucklers, or murderous, brutal cutthroats? In this book, the overrated David Cordingly, the same guy whose editing job in my opinion [messed] up Captain Johnson's classic, goes to great lengths to prove the latter. The result is often interesting and informative, but he could have written a book of impartial facts instead of resorting to "Hey, I bet you didn't know this" revisionism. Still, there is some very interesting information contained in this book. However, I must point out two false facts he briefly states without backup. The first one is that the pirates were not romanticized in the 16th century. In fact, newspapers at the time produced sensational stories on them, Johnson's classic book was published when the "Golden Age" of piracy was not even over, and the play "The Successful Pyrate" glorified the exploits of pirate Henry Avery (aka Henry Every) during the same year. Glamorizing and/or sensationalizing of these fascinating, ruthless men was indeed taking place in their life time. This information comes from a better book, THE HISTORY OF PIRATES by Angus Konstam. Cordingly wrote the indtroduction to this book (probably his best work). The second false fact is that escaped slaves were not accepted into pirate crews, or if they were they had inferior status. But in Konstam's book, it states that black pirates were "freed slaves or runaways," a fact accepted in every other pirate book I've read. Frank Sherry's RAIDERS AND REBELS: THE GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY describes pirates as equal opportunity employers. To refute this fact, Cordingly simply brings up the pirates' involvement in the slave trade. They were indeed involved in the slave trade, and should be condemned for it, but the fact is that they also accepted blacks into their ranks. These blacks, who according to most sources made up about 25% of the pirate populations, were willing to oppress other black men who weren't as fortunate as they were. David Cordingly's one paragraph on this was sloppy and ill-informed.
Another complaint I have is that this book keeps jumping back and forth from scholarly to lurid, and can't seem to make up its mind. To point out an example od pirate savagery, it points out a brutal act of cannabalism by Chinese pirates. But this book is about buccaneers and their "Golden Age" successors in the Carribean, so why use Chinese pirates to prove his point? He could have used a story about something Jean L' Olonnais or Bartholemew Roberts did, and it would have been more relevant to his subject. But I guess the Chinese story was more sensational.
For all these flaws, it does contain fascinating details. Think of it as sort of an "expose" on pirates. Sensationalistic and sometimes innacurate, I would nonetheless recommend it. Just don't make it the only pirate book you read.
Rating:
Summary: Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!!!
Review: Pirates are so much a part of our myth, legend and Hollywood, we often overlook there were real Pirates, flesh and blood men and women that took the high seas. The life of roaming the 7 seas tended to leave little written record by the Pirates themselves, thus our whole 'idea' of who and what a pirate was has been formed by exaggeration, plays and movies. David Cordingly started from that point and worked to see how much the myth compares to reality. Former head of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum, he had access to a writer's delight - records, court documents, eyewitness accounts, national archives - and mined those sources to give a new look at old views. He attempts to explode staunchly held myths and tries to give a new reality to replace them. These new 'truths' are as fascinating and complex as the Yo Ho Ho images of Blackbeard, Captain Kid and Henry Morgan. He also addresses lesser knowns pirates of the heyday of the Skull and Cross bones, and the cross-dressers Mary Read and Anne Bonny, the first womens libers that demanded equal pay for equal work! I high recommend this to writers wishing to write of pirates or just anyone with a thirst to know MORE...
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